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-This kind of art is not theoretical or illustrative of theories; it is intuitive, it is involved with all types of mental processes and it is purposeless. It is usually free from the dependence on the skill of the artist as a craftsman. It is the objective of the artist who is concerned with conceptual art to make his work mentally interesting to the spectator, and therefore usually he would want it to become emotionally dry. There is no reason to suppose, however, that the conceptual artist is out to bore the viewer. It is only the expectation of an emotional kick, to which one conditioned to expressionist art is accustomed, that would deter the viewer from perceiving this art.

Paragraphs on Conceptual Art

By Sol Lewitt

In the best of creative and challenging worlds, all art should form an existentially communicative situation, where it expresses a language beyond word, its pronunciation far removed from the short-lived and routine existence of spoken language. In other words: art that simply adheres to its inner logic, and achieves confirmation through its unique form and capacity. In that best of worlds, artists would not see themselves as craftsmen, creators desperate for acknowledgement, but rather each as a medium, a herald of the community, bringing messages from the spiritual, abstract, and unknown to the physical, prosaic, and overlooked. In that world, we would regard art as a vital organism, which defends the integrity of both a piece and the human behind it, where content and form in several wayscannot possibly be reduced into words.

STEFAN THORSSON i KUNSTforum

I have been doing my series of UNSTABLE VARIABLES installations for some time now. I realized that the best way to get to understand something about space, structures and temporality was to practice it as often as possible. And why did I think all this is important? As an individual you are a part of something huge, enormously large and complicated. Not only that you have your own psyche to keep in order, but also your body is moving about and changing directions and positions all the time, even when you are sick in bed. There are all the little movements, the ticking of your heart, your eyes moving, small unconscious finger-reactions, even your ears move at a sudden sound. Well, all is moving, all is changing. But where are you? What is your position? I mean; everything on the globe can be located by trigonometry. Sailors used a sextant and the positions of the sun and stars to navigate; they knew their position and could measure the time it would take to cross over to the next harbour, depending on winds and waves. How much are we as moderns aware of our position without using a GPS? What does space mean to us? Look closely at a portrait by Giacometti; be aware of the distance from the nose tip to the eye! It becomes an enormous stretch. He really knew something about space.

There are some places on earth where the space feeling becomes extra strong. The Pantheon in Rome is one. A marble quarry in Carrara, Las Cañadas de Tenerife, Grand Canyon, to mention a few. And my own studio!

Yes, this is a place on earth where I can manipulate and experience space, structure and temporality, and it gives me a good feeling of reality.

SPACE

was experienced most intensely at:

Grand Canyon Arizona, Monte Alban and Teotihuacan in Mexico, New York City from the World Trade Center, the Cathedral of Chartres, Pisa, the Panteon in Rome and at the fondamenta Schiavoni in Venezia.